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FILE PHOTO: California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to the media in Sacramento, CA, USA, March 3, 2020. REUTERS / Gabriela Bhaskar
LOS ANGELES – The highly infectious variant of coronavirus originally discovered in Britain was detected in California, Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, a day after the first known U.S. case was documented in Colorado.
Newsom announced his state’s first known case of the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, identified in Southern California, at the beginning of an online discussion about the COVID-19 pandemic with leading infectious disease specialist, the Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Newsom did not immediately provide further details, but Fauci said he was “not surprised,” adding that additional cases of the variant are likely to appear in California and other states.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday the first U.S. case of the so-called British variant of the virus, which scientists believe is more contagious than others previously identified but no more severe in the symptoms it causes, was announced by Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
At a news conference Wednesday, Polis described the infected patient in his condition as a National Guard soldier in his 20s who had been assigned to help deal with a COVID outbreak at a nursing home in the semi-county county. rural Elbert, on the outskirts of the Denver metro area.
The director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told reporters that a second member of the National Guard may have also contracted the variant from the United Kingdom, although the state was still awaiting final confirmation from the laboratory.
The new variant has also been detected in several European countries, as well as in Canada, Australia, India, South Korea, and Japan, among others.
Although experts believe that recently approved COVID vaccines will be effective against the British variant, the emergence of a more highly transmissible strain of the virus could make rapid implementation of the vaccines even more critical.
The US government on Monday began requiring all airline passengers arriving from Britain, including US citizens, to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of departure.
The government may expand coronavirus testing requirements for international air travelers beyond Britain starting next week, sources informed about the matter told Reuters.
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